Abstract

This article highlights the need for increased action to address imbalances between women’s and men’s access to and participation in the Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development. It analyses various aspects that contribute to such imbalance, including cultural (e.g. chauvinistic and/or gender-biased languages in discussions on mailing lists or in documentations), economic (e.g. unequal salary levels for women and men), political (e.g. male-dominated advocacy environment) and technical (e.g. unbalanced students gender in technical tutorials) ones. But on the other hand, it also emphasises the powerful potential of FLOSS as a vehicle for advancing gender equality in software expertise. In the end, this article points out that while women in more advanced countries have a better chance of upgrading their ICT skills and knowledge through participating in the FLOSS development, the opportunity is less available for women in the developing world. It is worth noting that although the gender issues raised in this article are widespread, they should not be considered as universally indifferent. Regional specificities in gender agenda in software engineering should be addressed distinctly.